PORT ANGELES — Artwork by Dusty Humphries Sr. of the Jamestown S’Klallam and Makah tribes will be on display in the House of Learning, Peninsula College Longhouse now through April 25.
An artist reception is set from 2 p.m. to 4 p.m. today in the Longhouse on the Peninsula College campus at 1502 E. Lauridsen Blvd.
Humphries grew up watching his mother carve. He apprenticed under Jeff Monson, Jamestown S’Klallam master carver, during the creation of the Welcome Pole in 2010 on the Peninsula College campus and started producing his own art around the same time. He is now a carver for the Jamestown S’Klallam Tribe.
“This trade is not written down,” Humphries said. “You can’t read about it in a book. Our traditions are oral. We learn by sharing our traditions and being hands-on in the process.”
His utilitarian wood carvings feature the use of positive and negative space which is an element of Coast Salish design.
For more than a year, Humphries has been working on a 26-foot pole for the Jamestown S’Klallam Tribe, and will design and carve a second pole as well.
When the project is finished there will be three poles to welcome the canoe pullers to the Jamestown beach during Tribal Canoe Journeys.
Winter gallery hours are from 10 a.m. to noon Tuesday through Thursday.
For more information or to schedule a tour, contact longhouse@pencol.edu or 360-417-7992.
